Friday, June 08, 2007

Now, on to the stuff clogging up our inbox, and our collective mind...

MIX TO KISS PD IN Y-TOWN: AllAccess reports that Clear Channel Youngstown hot AC WMXY/98.9 "Mix" middayer Sean Stevens slides across the hall to top 40 WAKZ/95.9 "Kiss FM" to take its program director opening.

The move takes Stevens off the air at "Mix", with newly-minted PD Steve Granato going on the air there. Sean has been holding that pesky "acting PD" title at "Kiss FM" since Jerry Mac left the post a few months ago.

And we don't know, yet, if Sean's new job affects his voicetracking in evenings at Clear Channel sister AC WHOF/101.7 in the Canton market...

LARRY MORROW'S NEW GIG: We don't know much more about it than the Plain Dealer item we spotted on Cleveland.com the other day, but...

Legendary Cleveland radio personality Larry Morrow, known for work at stations such as the old WIXY/1260 (now Radio Disney's WWMK) and WQAL/104.1, is dipping his toes back into the radio waters - or at least the satellite radio waters.

The PD's Bill Lubinger reports that Morrow is about to start "Coast to Coast with Larry Morrow" on Sirius Satellite Radio's "Gold" Channel (5). The two-day-a-week show will be heard Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3-7 PM, and will reportedly originate from the studios at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Cleveland.

As you'd likely expect, it's set to feature various interviews and features on the artists played on the channel, which covers much from the mid-1950's to early 1960's.

No broadcast/over-air component to this, as far as we can tell...which means if you don't have a Sirius tuner, you'll have to be lucky enough to drive behind someone who does, and hope they have a taste for music of that era...

The man who came to Cleveland in the 1960's after becoming a sensation here from across Lake Erie as CKLW/800 Windsor ONT's "Duke Windsor" now continues to run the Larry Morrow Group, an advertising and promotions firm...

SYNDICATION MATTERS: A mainstay on some local talk and Christian radio stations is expanding its syndication, with help from a Cleveland company.

"Family Matters", which has aired on Salem's three Cleveland outlets - Christian talk WHKW/1220, talk WHK/1420 and Christian contemporary WFHM/95.5 - is getting added to the syndication lineup of Cleveland-based Envision Radio Networks.

That's the same local company which recently picked up a new show hosted by former WKBW/1520 Buffalo host Leslie Marshall.

In addition to the Salem outlets here - WHKW also airs the show weekdays - the weekend edition of "Family Matters" is in the lineup of Cumulus talk WTOD/1560 Toledo. And of course, WTOD program director Chuck Matthews is a regular OMW reader.

(See, we had to turn it around to us, didn't we? Heh.)

We didn't realize that "Family Matters", hosted by Caroline Kruse and Jacquie Chakirelis, has been airing in one form or another for nine years...

TWC MOVES: It looks like Time Warner Cable is shuffling around some channels in various areas of the company's massive Northeast Ohio footprint.

An OMW reader in Norwalk tells us that ESPN Classic is now up at digital channel 117, moved (according to the TWC online channel guide) from analog 34.

The reader speculates that it's to make room for ESPNU's entrance to the TWC lineup. We haven't heard any confirmation of that, and note that ESPN Classic has always been on digital cable in the company's Cleveland (ex-Adelphia) lineup.

For that matter, so was ESPNU, until TWC dumped it just hours after taking over the system from the former operator.

From an entirely different outpost in the Time Warner SuperSystem: A New Philadelphia reader tells us that the earlier move of the Ohio News Network off to digital cable land has left behind an interesting sight on analog 72.

He says it appears that the Tennis Channel has landed there, and the channel apparently shares time with Time Warner Cable's own "Akron/Canton News", the WKYC/3-produced newscast with anchor Eric Mansfield.

Tennis and news? Umm, OK...

TWC's New Philadelphia/Dover system is one acquired in the Adelphia purchase, so it's the latest new outpost for "Akron/Canton News"...

WEWS-TV/DT SAN ANTONIO: No, there's no truth to the rumor that Scripps Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS/5 has filed with the FCC for a license change to San Antonio. It only seems that way.

By the day of Game One of the NBA Finals on Thursday, "NewsChannel 5" had sent a veritable army to south Texas, including, but not limited to:

Channel 5 is, after all, the outlet which is broadcasting the Finals via its network, ABC. The ratings won't be out for at least a while, but we're willing to bet that the station will draw Super Bowl-sized crowds every single night.

No, not everyone has left the building at 30th and Euclid.

But even most of the remaining reporters (Joy Benedict, Jonathan Costen, and John Kosich, for example) are doing various Cavs-related stories.

With the "LeBron's From Akron" angle fully mined by now, it was left to Costen to drive another 20 miles south on I-77 - to look into the background of the other major Cavaliers player with local ties, Canton McKinley graduate Eric Snow.

We were just thinking - the "NewsChannel 5" crew in San Antonio outnumbers the entire staff of some small market stations...

AND A MENTION: We're always thrilled when the universe of this Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) intersects with the print media.

This time, it's living Cavaliers radio play-by-play legend Joe Tait's first NBA Finals that brings us to the outside world.

The Medina Gazette has an excellent story in today's editions about Tait and his broadcasting of this series, written by sportswriter Brian Dulik. Quoting the man himself:

"From what I hear, there are a number of people who are happy I am finally going to be broadcasting the NBA Finals," Tait said. "That lets me know that I've probably done a pretty good job over the years, which is a nice feeling. It's very flattering."

Oh, and the part about us. Heh.

How widespread is Tait-mania at this point? A respected Ohio media Web site suggested that one of the Cavaliers' goals over the next two weeks should be to "Win it for Joe Tait."

Us? Respected? Wow. The universe does indeed work in mysterious ways.

And unlike the Cavaliers, at least Tait doesn't have to directly compete with whomever San Antonio has working the PBP microphone.

But he'd have a much better chance, at least based on the local team's play last night.

Such a contest between broadcasters would likely be "Tait In Less Than Four", and we have no idea who does the San Antonio broadcasts...

CH 5's production from San Antonio would rival that of a broadcast school. They get an A+ for effort but every a show has been a cluster mess - some of the worst "live TV" I've ever seen - especially for a top 25 market.

Larry is without a doubt the classiest broadcaster and person i have ever known.....he wed himself to the community as soon as he got here. he was always willing to take time with someone who wanted to break into the biz ( yes..even me) and this dedication to community continues.

i'm going to subscribe to sirius on line just so i can listen to him...